FORD CHAMPIONSHIP AT DORAL

March 4, 2003

Mike Weir

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome Mike Weir into the interview room. Mike thanks for coming back and spending a few minutes with us.

MIKE WEIR: No problem.

JOHN BUSH: Welcome to the Doral, you can stop right now and have a pretty good year, just your thoughts about this year so far.

MIKE WEIR: Well, it's been obviously a great start and you know, I'd basically be in contention every event and that's been the nice part of the year so far, the gold mine was to put myself into contention a little bit more except for last week where I didn't play particularly well, I played very well in all of the events, much better starts than I had last year.

Q. Are you excited to be back at Doral?

MIKE WEIR: I am, actually I played pretty well last year. I don't believe I was in the top-10 but I had a good finish here and played pretty well, you know seem to be comfortable on this golf course.

Q. Mike, your the marquis player here this week. How do you feel about that (laughs)?

MIKE WEIR: Well, why are you laughing?

I feel like, you know, as well as I'm playing, I'm, you know, maybe one of the favorites to win this week but there is a lot of great players here just because Phil and Vijay unfortunately had to pull out doesn't mean the quality of the field isn't very good. It is very good. There are a lot of names that are kind of getting their season started this week, so it should be a great week.

Q. Mike, great success with the West Coast swing, putting the Match Play there, and some feel like maybe Doral and Honda have maybe suffered in the process? Where do you think it should balance out? Would you like to see these first two events in Florida increase a little bit as far as fields go or is it just the fallout from trying to upgrade the West Coast swing?

MIKE WEIR: You know, I think, you know they have accomplished that. I think with the West Coast they've gotten better fields. I guess you have to look at the numbers of the top-10 players or top 50 players playing in Doral and Honda and see if it is taken away from the qualities of the fields at these events, I don't know if it has. So I'm not sure. Has it? I mean, I don't know if it has. You're asking me the question so I'm not sure has the quality of the field been lessened in these events, I don't know.

Q. How have you always viewed these Florida events?

MIKE WEIR: Well, you know, I live on the West Coast so I like getting off to a good start on the West Coast and playing the west coast. I didn't play too much amateur golf, junior golf, and professional golf, so for me to play over here I haven't had the greatest success over here except a couple of years ago. I have always liked to get off to a good start on the West Coast only because I live out there and it's easy travel for me.

Q. Do you see this as a kickstart to PLAYERS and Masters?

MIKE WEIR: Well, it is definitely. Those events aren't very far away so you want to keep your game sharp so you need to play some of them and lead into that with some momentum.

Q. Mike, can you tell us about this indoor practice facility which masquerades as your new basement?

MIKE WEIR: Yes, I have always done well with getting a lot of work done indoors, when I played college golf at Brigham Young we had a 60-yard indoor facility. I did a lot of great work in there and the three college tournaments I won were the first tournament after the winter break. So after two months off of just hitting balls in this net 60 yards because I was able to work on my fundamentals, not worry about shots and get out more with a fresh mind than anything.

Q. They poured the foundation; you had them put a cup in and you got it carpeted?

MIKE WEIR: Yep.

Q. How big is the area?

MIKE WEIR: It's not very big. It is just basically again just to check things fundamentally that I can work on, putts up to maybe 15 feet, 18 feet, it's more of a kids' play area. I got to push toys out of the way every time I go down there to putt. Mostly I work on putts six feet and under. Check some fundamentals, I have some mirrors around to check things; that's what I use it for.

Q. Was that a result of last year you made some swing changes to try to get better and then felt like that didn't work?

MIKE WEIR: No, I have had this little indoor facility for four or five years. So that's always been my routine. It's just a result of living in Utah. You can't play in the winter, you have to keep sharp somehow.

Q. What's the biggest change between you this year and the player last year?

MIKE WEIR: I think more my mental attitude about the game and enjoying myself a little more. You know, and my short game. My game all the way around is better. I'm not sure which comes first the better attitude or the better game. I think a little bit of both goes a long way. I'm hitting my wedge shots closer to the hole, putting is better. All around play is better.

Q. What do you think is better -- you in the top-10. It looks like you are one of the stars out here. What do you think happened -- (Inaudible)?

MIKE WEIR: Trying to get better, really. I was searching for a way. I have always done that. I came from out of nowhere really just playing the Canadian Tour and Australian and trying to get better. I was always in a search to try to get on the PGA TOUR and become a better player, top-50 player and from there try to become a top-10 player and from there hopefully to be the best player. So that takes a lot of search and a lot of introspection and a lot of work -- work on outlook of the game and I work on the mechanics of the game. Searching for all of those things to get better last year, I didn't go down the right path. But on the other hand, it's serving well for this year.

Q. Mike, did you put too much pressure on yourself last year at some point?

MIKE WEIR: I think so. That's probably a little bit of it. I think just the -- what I was trying to accomplish with my swing was just not what I wanted to do. Not what maybe I should have tried to do. You live and learn with everything.

Q. I was talking to some guys on the practice tee about technology and how distance seems to be overtaken in some ways, you are not the longer hitter out there; nor the biggest player out there, are you sort of proof that there is still room in the game for the shotmaker?

MIKE WEIR: No question. I'm not the longest guy, I can move it up there pretty good. You still have to be able to control your distance with your irons. You have to have a great short game to make putts, and you still have to make putts and you still have to get the ball in the hole. So there are still tournaments, and golf courses that I can do well on.

Q. Is it a matter of last year you were trying to fix something that wasn't broke?

MIKE WEIR: Not really. I don't think so. I don't think, you know, to get to, as I said, where I wanted to be, I don't think I was contending enough. I won some tournaments but in my mind I felt like I was not where I wanted to be yet at this stage of the game so I wanted to change a few things.

Q. When you get off to the start that you got off to this year, do you have to fight it? Do you have to fight a tendency to relax or are you one of the guys that build on it and put your nose to the grindstone more because you have --

MIKE WEIR: I'm not sure how I will do it. I'm just going to try to keep doing the same things that they are doing and see what happens and hopefully the same successes will happen. I definitely don't want to relax and feel satisfied with what I've done so far. I want to try keep going better.

Q. Ernie started off hot and we talked about maybe he is the best player in the world, Tiger wins, maybe he is the best player in the world. Are you ready to move into that class?

MIKE WEIR: I don't think I'm the best player in the world yet. I'm working towards that. Obviously, you know, I have won five times on the TOUR. Both of those guys have -- Tiger has one a bunch of majors and Ernie has won 3 or 4. I'm not there yet, but working towards it.

Q. You have played not only well here two years ago but you were leading the final day at Honda last year. You say you have not had all of that much familiarity on the Florida courses but you seem to play well on them?

MIKE WEIR: Yes, actually I do. I have played fairly well on them. But you know, it hasn't been my bread and butter. Having not grown up on Bermuda grass and playing my college golf mainly in the west I'm just not use to it. I think it's just a comfort level. As I said my family being out in Utah, it's easy for me to travel that's why I play a lot in the west and not as much over here.

Q. You feel like south Florida owes you one?

MIKE WEIR: No, I have done it to myself. So this game doesn't owe me anything.

Q. Some of the top guys that aren't here you got other guys getting a lot of publicity and press; is that nice for a change, does that kind of educate people more about the TOUR?

MIKE WEIR: I'm not sure. I think it's good for the game when the top players are playing. They deserve the recognition that they get. But at the same time I think it may open up an opportunity for a guy to maybe break through that may not have, you know, maybe an Ernie or a Tiger were here. At the same time if you win the tournament on the PGA TOUR you are probably going to beat everybody in the field if you are playing well.

Q. Mike, when you were a kid, was it your dream to be a professional golfer or to be a hockey player?

MIKE WEIR: I think at a very young age the dream was to play hockey. But I was quickly squashed by the time I was 14 or 15 and it became about golf. But I still love to play hockey and enjoy following it.

Q. Why was it squashed?

MIKE WEIR: I just wasn't any good. I was okay. I could skate and score a little bit and love to bang around. Obviously my size I didn't have -- there are some guys maybe a little bigger than me in the league, they are very fast and skilled. I just wasn't there.

Q. Do you have a favorite team now?

MIKE WEIR: Favorite team has always been the Red Wings.

Q. Did you want to be a PGA TOUR player growing up in Canada?

MIKE WEIR: I don't think so. Golf is very popular in Canada. Especially the last few years it's gotten very popular. My home town that I grew up in is a big sports town, and very supportive of all sports, baseball, hockey. I was just lucky to have a good head pro to push me a long, there Steve Bennett, and I think that's why it wasn't hard for me.

Q. Is it a disadvantage that you were born Canadian and want to be on TOUR?

MIKE WEIR: I don't think so, I think anything you want, if you want it bad enough you make it work. I never looked at it as a disadvantage. I always figured a way to hit balls in my garage, my dad set up a net in there. I'd would go down to the lake, beat balls in lake Huron, pick them off the ice, always figured out a way to do it.

Q. You mentioned the popularity of golf. Do you have something to do with that?

MIKE WEIR: I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I hope I have. I think RCGA has had something to do with it. They've implemented a great developmental program for juniors there. They followed through with that pretty well and I think it's getting better. There are a lot of things combined. Laurie on the lady's TOUR has really popularized the woman's game. Maybe myself and some of the guys out here have brought some of the younger guys a long. There is a lot of good young male professionals that are playing Nationwide, the few playing Europe. So the game overall is getting more popular.

Q. When you won that award the first time were you shocked?

MIKE WEIR: I was a little surprised, yes. I was maybe a little more surprised the second time only because it was an Olympic year and I thought an Olympic athlete would win it. I was surprised, a nice surprise.

Q. You got that award, this year Craig Perks was named athlete of the year in New Zealand and a country big on rugby, soccer and other sports, is this a case of how golf is being accepted on an international basis?

MIKE WEIR: I think so. I think it's a good point, I think it's more -- it's referred to more as a sport now than a game. It's on a sport level now before and maybe before it wasn't taken as seriously as what it takes to be a professional golfer. I think the days of guys going out after rounds and having drinks, and doing that kind of stuff is over and guys take it much more seriously. The sport has grown in stature, I think, of what type of athlete is really going to excel in his game. So I think that's why you are getting some of these recognitions.

Q. How were you when you sent that letter to Jack about the left hand?

MIKE WEIR: I was 12.

Q. Did you ever talk to him about it at all?

MIKE WEIR: Yes, I'm sure he has been mentioned -- had it mentioned to him a few times. He is probably getting sick of it, we talked a few times about it. I don't want that to be the only thing when we talk, Jack and myself, but it's a nice story, it was a great story for me to.

Q. Do you have still have that letter?

MIKE WEIR: Yes, in my office. I feel awkward when he gets asked about it all the time. But for me, I remember getting the letter, my dad throwing it on the table when it came in the mail and I was really excited obviously.

Q. I just wanted to ask, I asked some other golfers about the sponsorship change and if you addressed it, tell me. Is it important for you at all as a golfer? Do you just focus on the game? Is that part important to you, do you notice any change this year?

MIKE WEIR: I just flew in last night so I haven't noticed changes. I noticed that a different courtesy car picked me up last night.

Ford is a respected company throughout the U.S. and the world and to have them associated with the TOUR is great for us, I think, and I think they are going to do a great job this week.

Q. When Dave won the senior event down here he had a huge Canadian following. He was talking about how the Canadians were rooting him along. When you play here do you notice that?

MIKE WEIR: Oh, definitely. When I was playing the West Coast, a lot of people from the western part of Canada, winter in California, so some of those events I get a lot of Canadians. A lot of people from Ontario and Quebec visit down here in the winter, I get a nice fan following out here and through PLAYERS and the Masters, it's pretty unique.

End of FastScripts....